Dr. Rachel Toombs

Professor of Theology and Old Testament

Rachel’s Story

Rachel loves stories. They serve as the thread that connects and enlivens her interdisciplinary academic interests. Growing up as a voracious reader of fiction, Rachel discovered the richness of the stories of the Old Testament during her undergraduate studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. While she was there for her BA in Youth Ministry, Rachel’s classes on the Old Testament revealed a passion for bringing alive the world of ancient Israel in which the stories of the Hebrew Bible unfold.

After her undergraduate studies, she spent three years working with underserved youth outside of Minneapolis, where telling the stories of God’s people—in their triumphs, agonies, faithfulness, and faithlessness—continued to fuel her interest in the Bible.

She then moved to Vancouver, Canada where she pursued her MA in Theological Studies with a concentration in Old Testament. While she arrived at Regent College ready to learn Hebrew and more about the ancient Near East world in which the Old Testament stories reside, she found herself surprised at the ongoing and creative reception of these stories throughout the history of the Church. Reading third-century Cappadocian theologian Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses revealed not only a rich theological imagination, but the impact of ancient Israel’s stories in the life of the Christian Church.

Rachel’s time during her Master’s degree was characterized by both the dissonance and resonance found in bringing biblical scholarship and theological reflection into relationship with one another. This wrestling brought her to Baylor University in Waco, TX where she recently completed a Ph.D. in Religion with a concentration in Theology and a cognate study in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Rachel’s doctoral dissertation reflects her love of story and interdisciplinary approach to theology, as she explored the theological impact of Flannery O’Connor’s literary style on her readers by parallelling the twentieth-century Southern writer to biblical Hebrew narrative’s spare style.

The centrality of story in conveying the central claims of Christian theology remains a centerpoint in her classroom at YTI. Rachel aims to make her students good and generous readers, thoughtful theologians, and appreciators of the way the arts can communicate theology (sometimes more profoundly than propositional claims).

In her free time, Rachel remains a voracious reader, with a particular fondness for historical fiction, science fiction, and fairy stories. She is also an avid baker presently relearning all of her favorite recipes at high elevation, a Minnesota Twins fan, novice cook, and dog lover. She and her husband Lance (Lecturer in Theology and Adventure) have two pit rescues, Eowyn and Rosie.